Trapped in the TARDIS
by Supreme.Empress.DragonGirl
Summary: When the Doctor comes down with a mysterious illness, Rose has no choice but to turn off the TARDIS. But they're in the middle of space, and she can't turn it back on! With time running out, can they survive being...trapped in the TARDIS?
1. Chapter 1

Rose leaned against the control panel of the TARDIS. The Doctor was on the other side, sitting in a chair he'd dragged in from another room, reading a book. She watched, smiling, as he shook his head in exasperation at whatever was happening, but the smile faded from her face to be replaced by a frown as he set the book down. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Are you alright, Doctor?" she asked, concern creeping into her voice.

He nodded and ran his fingers through his untidy hair. "Just tired, that's all."

"Why don't you go rest?" Rose said, coiling a loose lock of her hair around her fingers. She did that when she was nervous, and right now she was definitely nervous. The Doctor had been acting oddly for three days now.

"Because I've got to fly the TARDIS, of course," he pointed out. "I'm fine, stop worrying about me."

Rose thought. "If I told you I was fine, would you stop worrying about me?"

"Absolutely not."

"I didn't think so," she said quietly, smiling to herself. "So...I won't stop worrying about you, no matter how many times you say you're fine."

"What if I order you to?"

"Then not worrying would be just what the Doctor ordered," she said, grinning.

"Heh," he laughed, and a look of concern flickered over Rose's face for a fragment of a second. Then she grinned again, but her bright smile couldn't hide the worry in her eyes.

_He told me he was tired,_ she thought. _And why shouldn't he be? He'll be fine. Anyways,_ she scolded herself, _the TARDIS would know if he wasn't well._

With that consolation, she pushed it out of her mind.

She was cheerful, forcing herself not to worry about the Doctor, until later that afternoon. He was reading his book again, in one of the brief times between having to pilot the TARDIS. Suddenly, as Rose was drifting away in her own thoughts, he started coughing.

"Don't die," said Rose, teasing, but he couldn't even answer. Her eyes widened. "Doctor! Are you alright?"

He caught his breath. "I'm fine," he managed, and started coughing again.

"Doctor!" Rose ran around the console and rocked back and forth on her toes, unsure what to do. The lights of the TARDIS flickered unhappily.

It was nearly ten minutes before the Doctor was released from the coughing fit, as quickly as he'd been seized by it. He slumped back in his seat, panting, and pushed his glasses up to rub his face with his hands.

"Doctor," Rose said severely, "go rest. Now. You're clearly _not_ fine, and I want you to get some rest so you don't cough yourself to death."

"Fine, fine," he said, and stood. At once he swayed and waved his arms about, trying to get his balance. Rose caught him before he went over backwards.

"What's that?" she demanded. "It's certainly not _fine."_

"I got up and everything spun out of control," said the Doctor weakly. "I couldn't tell which way was down..." He sounded far-off and distracted.

Rose let him lean on her and helped him to his room. "TARDIS, light off, please," she called. The lights dimmed down into blackness. She pushed the Doctor backwards onto the bed and fumbled around for the lamp switch. A soft golden glow illuminated the room.

"That's better," said the Doctor.

"You just rest for a bit," said Rose. She couldn't keep her voice from shaking. "I'll be back in a minute."

She returned to the control room. "TARDIS," she said softly. "I can't fly you. I need you to end all operations except oxygen, lights, gravity, and User-TARDIS Interface. Have you got that?"

The lights flickered. The TARDIS didn't want to end all operations.

"I'm sorry," said Rose. "But I don't know how to fly you, and I don't think the Doctor's in any condition to pilot you."

The engines of the TARDIS died. Rose felt a shudder as the ship left the Vortex. She looked out a window and into endless space.

"Oh, no," she whispered. "What have I done?"

She had turned off the TARDIS. She was floating in space, far away from home, in a ship she couldn't turn on, much less fly. On top of that, she had limited food supplies, _and_ she didn't have any idea what was wrong with the Doctor—the one person who _could_ fly the ship.

Rose Tyler was at the end of the line. And unless the Doctor got well quickly, this would be one sticky situation she never got out of.

**A/N: Hm. Short. It's only the first chapter, and that seemed like a good place to end it. I like ending with at least one question unanswered and a major threat hanging over the heads of all the characters. Or with everybody happy, oblivious to the danger approaching. What's wrong with the Doctor? How will Rose survive being lost in the TARDIS? Will she be resourceful enough to save them both? Keep reading to find out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** **Wow, I don't think I've ever gotten two reviews and three story subscriptions on the first night a story's been posted. Thanks, everyone! -cookies for all- Reviews tell me "People want to read what happens next," so I update faster the more reviews I get. **

**Onwards! What will happen to poor Rose now, with the Doctor out of commission?**

Rose crept into the room. The Doctor was sprawled across the covers in what looked like a most uncomfortable position. His shoes were in the corner, and his coat and suit jacket had been thrown casually across the back of a chair.

"Doctor?" she called softly.

He sat up. "Rose?" he called. "Is that you?" Rose bit her lip when she saw him. He was very pale, except for the scarlet flush in his cheeks. His glasses were still half on, and his eyes were glazed. He wasn't even looking quite at her. "Rose?" he called again. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here, Doctor," Rose whispered, stepping closer. "I'm always right here when you need me."

"Rose! Where are you? I can't find you..." He sounded so lost, so afraid, so hopeless that tears stung Rose's eyes. She was hurt by how sad his voice sounded, and at the same time touched that, at least in the waking dream he was trapped in, he needed her that much.

"TARDIS, close the door!" she shouted suddenly as tears began to spill out onto her cheeks, and sprinted out of the room just as the door slid shut.

Rose sat against the console until she stopped crying. She knew she wouldn't have been able to stop if she'd stayed in there, as much as she'd wanted to never move again until the Doctor was better. She wanted someone to talk to. The TARDIS, as alive as she was, didn't count, at lest not in this situation. Rose's hand curled around her cell phone. A slight smile touching the corner of her mouth, she dialed the number.

"Hello?" It was Jackie Tyler's voice. "Rose, is that you?"

"Yes, Mum, it's me."

"Are you safe? Why've you called me? Is everything alright?"

"It's all okay—well, no, it's not, but I'm alright, I really am. I'm not hurt, or anything, but I'm trapped--"

"Trapped? Trapped where? Why isn't that Doctor coming to help you?"

"In the TARDIS, Mum, let me finish! I'm trapped in the TARDIS--"

"Trapped in the TARDIS? How can you be trapped in the TARDIS? It's a time-traveling space ship, of all things!"

"Mum! I'm getting there! I'm trapped in the TARDIS because I had to turn it off in the middle of traveling! I can't fly it, so--"

"What's it matter if you can fly it? You don't fly it anyways! Why doesn't _he_ fly it?"

Rose sucked in a breath and waited a moment before going on in a voice of incredible patience considering her situation. "Mum, as I was saying, I can't fly it, so with the Doctor how he is--"

"What d'you mean, _how he is?_ Rose, is there something wrong?"

"_Yes,_ there's something wrong!" Rose shouted. "Something's wrong with the Doctor, and I don't know what it is, and the TARDIS won't tell me! He's in a bad way, and he's certainly in no condition to run all around his ship at the speed of light like he always does! Mum, I was just trying to talk to him, and he didn't even know I was _there!"_

There was silence for a moment, and Jackie said, "I'm sorry, Rose. I can't help you with that, but I'm here to talk to if you need it." Her voice was softer, gentler. "Why don't you get yourself a cup of tea—the Doctor has got tea up there, hasn't he?"

Rose had to laugh. "Of course he's got tea up here, Mum!"

"Go make yourself a cup of tea, then, and calm down," Jackie said. "Then when you're more relaxed and your mind is clearer, you can focus on getting the Doctor back in working condition."

"Thanks, Mum," said Rose, glad for the sensible voice telling her just how to fix things, like when she was younger. "I'll do that. I'll try and call you later, then."

"I'll talk to you later." The phone clicked, and Rose put it back in her pocket. She stood and stretched, then walked into the kitchen to fix herself some tea.

After a cup of tea and a minute to rest, her mind _was_ clearer. She stood up and began pacing the kitchen. "What do I absolutely _need_ to take care of?" she asked herself. "I've got to set some sort of alarm on the TARDIS. There's no point hovering over the Doctor, but I've got to keep an eye on him. I can't just not get any sleep; I'll have to ask her to dim the lights when I should be getting to bed, there's no way to tell when it's night out here. Settings, settings, where can I change the settings on the TARDIS?" She frowned.

While she was thinking about it, she heard a voice through the wall. "Rose?"

She jumped, dashed out of the kitchen, and ran right into the Doctor's room. "Doctor, are you awake?"

"'Course I'm awake, Rose, how could I call you if I wasn't awake?" He looked annoyed, but all Rose could care about was that he was actually looking at her, actually carrying on a coherent conversation. "What time is it?" he asked, frowning.

"It's—er—let me check," she said. She looked at the clock on her phone. "Four in the afternoon."

"Four in the afternoon?" he echoed, sounding dazed and confused. "How'd it get to be so late?"

"It's not important," said Rose, shaking her head. "How can I change the settings on the TARDIS?"

"You've got to walk clockwise a quarter way around the console, and that's where you can change things," he said. "But it'll ask you for a password."

"What is it?"

"Hold on a moment, so I can remember it," he said, frowning at her. He blinked slowly.

"You should rest, Doctor," Rose said. "You can tell me what the password it soon."

"Alright," he agreed, and Rose's heart sank. If he was agreeing he needed to rest, then he was in worse condition than she'd thought. As she turned to leave, he said sleepily, "The password's "d l rose, all one word."

"Alright, Doctor," she said, and left the room. She sat down at the console and turned on the monitor. It was time to take charge. It felt nice to be n control of _something,_ at least.


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing to do, Rose decided, was to figure out how this worked. In the top-right corner, there was a button labeled _help._ She couldn't find any sort of pointer, so she tried touching the button. To her surprise, a window opened. All it said in the little _help_ box was, "Sometimes something isn't working, and none of the parts are to blame. The problem might just be that the parts aren't working together as a smooth and perfect whole. If one part isn't working with another part, both parts may need some modifications, or perhaps simply adjustments in placement, but a part does not necessarily need replaced."

Rose stared "What?" She blinked at the box. "That's no help at all." Curious to see what would happen, she tapped the _next_ button.

"If cake tastes sour, maybe whatever you were eating before was too sweet. That doesn't mean to throw the cake out into the Vortex. Eat something sour and try again later."

Rose snorted with laughter. "Whatever _that_ means. How about telling me something _useful_ now?" She hit the _next_ button.

"Doctor! If TARDIS isn't working, turn off the engines and let her rest!"

Rose shook her head. "Silly TARDIS. The engines are _already_ off, and I'm not the Doctor! Any other, er, useful tips?"

"Doctor! Don't let TARDIS overheat!"

She gave up. This help didn't make any sense to her. "I'm sure he knows what all those mean."

She closed the _help_ box and opened another menu, simply labeled, TARDIS. Under it, there was a button labeled _settings._ That was more like it. She pressed it.

"There we are," she said, and began fiddling with the settings. She made the TARDIS lights change as time changed. When the lights grew brighter, she would get up, and when they dimmed, she would get ready for bed. She added an alarm, once an hour from six o'clock in the morning to ten at night, and once every two hours from night to morning. That should do.

"And get me up if the Doctor wakes up," she added to the TARDIS when she was unable to find a setting for that. That would be enough for now.

She turned off the monitor and stood up. She was hungry. She was about to go into the kitchen when she received a shock from the TARDIS. "Ouch! What was that for?"

She turned around and saw the monitor was on. A window was open. She walked over and read it. It was the same "help" it had just given her. "Doctor! Don't let TARDIS overheat!"

"I already saw that!" Rose said, laughing. She closed the window and turned off the monitor. She was barely a step towards the kitchen when a spark jumped to her hand. _"Ouch!"_

"Doctor! Don't let TARDIS overheat!"

"I've got it, I've got it, I won't let you overheat, TARDIS," Rose sighed. "But how _can_ you overheat? It's not as if you're doing anything."

The TARDIS sparked angrily.

Rose blinked. "That has nothing to do with keeping you cool, does it?"

The lights brightened, making the room look more cheerful. She was right, and the TARDIS was glad about it. "Right, then, I've got no idea beyond that."

The console sparked; Rose winced. "Sorry! I just don't know!"

The screen flashed. "Doctor! Don't let TARDIS overheat!"

She blinked, then laughed as she figured out why it kept repeating the message. "Doctor, medicine, not Doctor, the Doctor! But what's overheating got to do with anything?"

For an answer, the TARDIS zapped her arm. "Oww! What's wrong, TARDIS? You _never_ shock me that badly!"

The TARDIS hummed softly in apology and stopped sparking. Rose frowned. What would make the ship, which liked her very well, so irritated at her? She could only think of one thing, and as soon as she had, she could have slapped herself. "I'm so _thick_ sometimes!"

The TARDIS trembled with near-silent laughter. Rose laughed as well and slid down the console. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She dialed.

"Hello?"

"Mum!"

"Rose? I hadn't expected you to call so soon! You _did_ make yourself some tea?"

"Yeeeeeees, Mum, I made some tea." The TARDIS trembled under her. "Oh, stop, it's not that funny! Anyways, I need some more help."

"Oh, Rose."

"Oh, _stop _it, I know you don't like her, but it's not nice to laugh...Sorry, Mum, the TARDIS is laughing at you, and you're not _that_ funny. Only joking," she added hastily. "Anyways, I need to know what you're supposed to do for a fever."

"A fever?" asked Jackie incredulously. "Well, if someone has a fever, they're, I don't know, overheated! You've got to fix it!"

"I know that," said Rose sourly. "It took the TARDIS ages to get me to figure it out, but I got there. How do I do that?"

"Do what? Figure it out?"

"Mum! What do you do for a fever?"

"I've just told you that!"

"How?"

"By—oh. Well, er, let's see..."

Several hours later, Rose was worn out. She slumped against the central console and slid down to sit on the floor. The Doctor was exhausting at his best, and this was ten times worse. Even so, she was rather pleased with herself. In a funny way, it felt rather nice for the Doctor to need her, instead of the other way around.

"It's a bit different, isn't it, for me to be the doctor for a change?" she asked the TARDIS, laughing. "The Doctor needing a doctor. It sounds funny, doesn't it?"

"That's fantastic," called an annoyed voice from down the hall. "Now, would Doctor Tyler please report to the library and get me a book to read?"

Rose grinned, and the TARDIS floor jumped up under her, shaking with laughter. "Feeling a bit better, are you?"

"Better enough to be bored," came his disgruntled reply. "Care to hurry it up a bit, Doctor Tyler?"

"Oh, don't," Rose scoffed, and got up to go to the library.

The walk was nearly five minutes, at a quick pace. She wished it was shorter, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She grabbed a book at random and hurried back to the Doctor's room. "Here you are."

He snatched the book out of her hand, flipped through the pages, and handed it back. "This book's boring. Get another one."

Rose frowned at him, sighed, and returned to the library. The same thing happened with that book, and the next, and the next. After six trips from the room to the library and back, Rose put her foot down.

"Stop that," she commanded, holding the rejected book in her hand. "It isn't funny."

"What am I doing that isn't funny?"

"Pretending you don't know what I'm talking about isn't funny either. Stop it."

He looked up at her with his best innocent eyes. "What am I doing?"

She crossed her arms. "TARDIS, make him stop that!" He winced and braced himself. The TARDIS hummed softly, and Rose shook her head. She wasn't going to get any help from the ship this time. "Please knock it off, Doctor!"

"I will if you get--" he began, but he broke off with a yelp as the TARDIS suddenly jolted violently, so hard that he tumbled onto the floor. "Ow." She went sprawling, too. She grinned as she looked up at the Doctor. He blinked, confused, and then began laughing. She laughed as well.

"Another day or two of rest—yes, Doctor, rest—and you'll be able to fly the TARDIS again," she told him. He nodded slowly.

But when she looked at him, saw how unsteady he was as he got to his feet, saw the glaze in his eyes, she knew it wasn't true.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Remember, reviews make me happy, and when I'm happy I write. EDIT: Thanks for the people who pointed out my mistake! I think I fixed everything, but if I missed a place tell me!  
**

Rose woke up as a soft chimelike sound played next to her. She looked around, confused for a second. She was in the TARDIS, but why wasn't the ship moving, and what was with the alarm? Then it came rushing back to her. The chime sounded again, and she realized that must be the alarm. But it hadn't woken her at all last night! "Oh, no," she said softly, running her fingers through her hair. She jumped up and ran to check on the Doctor.

He was sleeping, but not peacefully. The covers were tangled around him, and he wouldn't stay still for more than a few seconds. When Rose brushed her fingers lightly across his face, she felt burning heat.

"Some doctor you are," she scolded herself, tears springing to her eyes. "He's worse now than he was before! Oh, Rose Tyler, what have you done?"

Looking for something steady and reliable, something constant to hold on to as her world crumbled, she laid both of her hands, palm down, on the Doctor's chest, over his hearts. But she only was more scared when she felt his double heartbeat twice as fast or faster than it should be. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. The Doctor was supposed to be strong, impenetrable. He was supposed to always be there. He was supposed to take care of her, not the other way around!

"This is insane," Rose snapped. "This is completely insane. I can't do this. I can't..."

"I can't," echoed the Doctor, his hand suddenly grabbing hers. "I can't choose. I can't live with either choice. No..."

Rose swallowed hard and closed her eyes. She _couldn't_ break down. Not when he needed her. He'd always been there for her, and now it was time to repay the favor. "I'm here, Doctor," she whispered. "I'm right here."

"No," he replied softly. "Don't make me choose. Rose..." His hand tightened until her hand hurt, but she didn't pull away.

"No one's making you choose, Doctor," she said. "You don't have to choose."

"You can't ask me to trade a hundred million lives for one, or one for a hundred million! I can't make that choice..."

Her mouth suddenly went dry. "Oh, no," she whispered hoarsely. "Oh, God, don't let him think about that..."

"I've already killed them once! You can't ask me to do that again! But I can't lose you, Rose, I can't..."

"Already killed them once," Rose breathed, and the world spun around her. "Doctor, wake up! Wake up, I'm here, you won't lose me! No, oh, no, don't make him dream about that..." She understood how important it was to make the Doctor better now, because in the fever-induced nightmares he was being forced to make a choice he could never make. "Oh, please, wake up, wake up," she said, fighting a wave of dizziness that threatened to take her down. He was in pain, and she couldn't help him. "Doctor, wake up! I'm here, I'm here, you don't have to choose..."

"Rose..." he said, and something in his voice had changed. He released her hand, and she stood up, massaging her cramped fingers. "What...time is it?"

"It's—er—seven," she said. "In the morning."

He put a hand to his head, wincing in pain. "What day? How long have I been out of it?"

"Only for ten hours or so," she said, reassuring him. "It's only the next day."

"Ow..." He took off his glasses and rubbed he bride of his nose. Rose bit her lip. He was still half delirious. He didn't really know what was happening at all. She shook her head impatiently. It _hurt_ to see him like this.

"Is there anything you need?" she asked softly, conscious of how loud her voice was. "How do you feel?"

"Like my head's about to explode," he mumbled. "And like the TARDIS need to turn up the heat, because I'm _freezing_."

"Do you need anything?" Rose repeated. As she talked, she began dutifully untangling the blankets, unfolding the ones at the foot of the bed, making him warmer even though she wasn't sure that helped. "Tea? Water? More covers?"

"Er, tea, thanks," the Doctor said, still rather disoriented. "Wish I could have something for my headache..."

"I'll be right back," she promised, and ran to the kitchen. She put the water on to boil, waited for the tea to be ready, and returned with it to the Doctor's side.

"Thanks," he said, after taking a gulp of tea. "I needed that." Rose could almost imagine that he looked a little better already. She remembered his regeneration. When he'd collapsed, all he'd needed was spilled tea to be back in business. She giggled a bit, thinking back. "What's so funny?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "Nothing," she said, grinning. "It's just that you have a history of being cured by...tea."

He frowned. "Hm. I suppose...you're right..." He blinked sleepily at her. "I'm tired, Rose. D'you mind leaving and letting me get some sleep?"

"Of course not," said Rose, a bit too cheerfully, and left. But she turned back to look at him a second later. He was already asleep, really asleep, not tossing and turning in a feverish delirium.

"That's better," she murmured softly. "Sweet dreams, Doctor." She closed the door and crept away. The TARDIS hummed contentedly under her feet, and Rose returned to the console room. After lying there, thinking about what was happening, worrying about the Doctor for a moment, she closed her eyes, and she was able to sleep too.

**A/N (again): Aw, Rose is so sweet. :P She's so worried about her Doctor! Like it? Don't? Review and tell me!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Anyone who read Chapter 4 previous to July 20, 2008 should read it again as I fixed a major mistake and you'll be confused in the middle of this one if you don't. Thanks!**

When Rose woke up, an hour and a half later, it was to the incessant chiming of the TARDIS, telling her to get moving. She blinked her eyes open and checked the time. She'd missed the hourly alarm—she would have to make it louder. But if it was chiming between hours, that must mean the Doctor was awake.

She stood up, yawned, stretched, and ran to the Doctor's room. He looked at her as soon as she came in. "Hello, Rose."

_Oh, good, he's clear-headed now._ "How are you?" she asked at once. "Anything I can get you?"

He shook his head and winced. "I'm still a little tired, but I'm alright," he said. "How are you? You haven't been working yourself to death? I'm not dying, you know."

She frowned. "I'd rather work myself to death than have you get any worse. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. You should just be worried about getting better so we can get home."

"I don't remember much of the past few hours," he said. "How's the TARDIS? I haven't been too much trouble, have I?" He grinned at the joke, but didn't laugh.

"You've been fine," said Rose, running her fingers through her hair. "You were talking a lot."

He did laugh, now, a slight laugh which quickly turned into a cough. Rose started forwards, then hesitated. He was fine just a moment later. "Rambling like I usually do, but more confused and confusing?"

"No," she admitted. "In your sleep."

"Oh." She had to force herself not to smirk as his face colored slightly. She thought of how he'd been a bit ago, and laughter died in her throat. She looked away. "It hurt," she whispered, watching him out of the corner of her eye. "It hurt, to hear you, see you like that."

As quickly as he'd blushed, he paled. "Oh, no. Rose, what did I say?"

She laughed. "Don't look like that, it was nothing bad! Just—you were talking about—about having to choose—trading a hundred million lives for one, or something..." As she said it, there was a change in the Doctor's face, like he'd put on a blank mask. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean...have you had a dream like that before?"

"N-no," he said, too quickly. "I'm just sorry it hurt you--"

"You're lying," she said, but she couldn't make herself be angry at him. "Just tell me if...if I guessed right about—what you were talking about. Were the hundred million lives the Time Lords?"

She looked up. He wouldn't meet her eyes, but he nodded.

She swallowed, it was suddenly harder to breathe. "Am I...am I really...would it really be that hard to decide between saving me, and saving your whole planet, every one of your people?"

"Yes," he said softly. "You're three times more important than any of them ever was..." Her pulse was hammering in her ears so loudly, like the roar of a stormy ocean, that she could barely hear him finish, "...but I'm not sure I could sacrifice so many lives for just one, because it would seem unfair."

She felt herself sway back, felt the floor drop out from under her; she grabbed the door frame with her hand to stop herself from falling. _Oh, God... _She blinked, shook her head, swallowed, and tried to say something. She couldn't make a sound. She swallowed again, took a deep breath, and managed something stupid, something like how could he think she was anywhere near important enough to be worth a whole race of people. _God, Rose, how stupid can you get? Put a sock in it before you say something you'll regret! _

"Rose? Rose, are you okay? Rose! What's wrong? Rose? Rose, can you hear me?" His voice sounded very far away, yet somehow brought her back to reality.

"Sorry," she gasped, suddenly becoming painfully aware of how worried he looked. She was so _stupid._ "I was just—thinking about something else." She felt like she was halfway underwater, the pressure was so great.

"Are you okay?" he asked again. "How do you feel? I hope this whatever-it-is I've got isn't contagious."

She swallowed and took a few deep breaths. "Sorry," she repeated. "I'm better now." Her heart slowed down to normal speed. "How about you, Doctor? D'you need anything?"

"What I need is for this headache to magically go away," he muttered.

Rose laughed. "I'm sorry I can't help." Feeling daring, she darted forwards and kissed him on the cheek. "That's the best I have."

He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, shook his head, and said, "It doesn't help my headache much, but thanks anyway."

She smiled. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"Unless you have--"

"Sorry, miracle cures are not available."

He pouted, but she could see he was fighting to hide a smile. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep her face frozen in a mask of worry. It was usually harder to make a funny face than a straight one, and she only allowed herself to smile when he gave up the act of sulking.

"Well," he said with a melodramatic sigh, "I suppose that I'll have to settle for tea, then." He smirked at her. "Or is that unavailable as well? After all, it's worked miracles before!"

"It's worked one miracle," she pointed out. "And since it's within my power, I'll get you some more."

"Fantastic," he said. She hurried to the kitchen to get the tea.

The tea was in her hand when the Doctor's voice shouted, "Rose, lu-u-ucky girl-who-gets-to-be-my-companion, will you come here?"

"What's with the emphasis on _lucky?"_ Rose asked as she brought in the tea. "What, am I really so lucky that it needs stretched out?"

"That wasn't supposed to be emphasis," he snapped. "Have you got the tea? Thanks, er, Rose. Could you please run to the library and fetch me a book?"

She put her hands on her hips and looked at him. "I'd be delighted, as long as you don't send it back straight away."

"I won't, I won't! I already know what book I want, anyways. Here, let me write it down--" He reached around with one hand for something to write with, and something to write on.

"Try this," Rose laughed, handing him a pen and a scrap of paper. He took both, looked at both sides of the paper, and held it up, smirking. Rose blushed as she saw the poorly drawn picture on the other side. "It's just a doodle I made," she said.

"I _wonder_ what you were thinking about when you drew it?"

She looked at him, rather indignantly. "I was talking to Jack Harkness on the telephone! He was making fun of me and asked me if we had any good music! I was telling him off, as a matter of fact!"

"I'll bet you were," he retorted, flashing her that teasing grin. "At the same time as you were drawing this."

"Oh, put a sock in it!" She snatched the paper out of his hand and found another one. This one, she made sure, only had a reminder to buy groceries the next time she was home. Still grinning, he wrote down the title of the book. Rose took the scrap of paper back and nearly ran from the room.

"At least he seems to be feeling better," she sighed as she began her five-minute trek to the library. Under her breath, so low that even the TARDIS couldn't hear, she added, "The operative word being "seems.""

**A/N: I made fun of myself in this chapter. Yay. It's easier to make myself look like an idiot when I can't see the people who think I am one because of it. :P Like it? Dislike it? Think I should play down the middle? Tell me! REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: By the way, if you have a guess as for what D L Rose means or what Rose's doodle was a picture of, put it in a review! Let's see what's going to befall our brave young heroine now...**

Rose didn't even look at the paper in her hand until she reached the library. When she did glance down, she understood why he'd had to write down the title. It was in another language! She shook her head in dismay. Where did that come in the alphabet? How could she _find_ the book?

"TARDIS," she asked in dismay, "can you tell me how to find this book?"

The lights flickered. Rose took that as a no. She began walking through the aisles of books, very slowly, reading each one carefully. The lights continued to flicker. "What's wrong, girl?"

The TARDIS didn't answer. Of course she didn't, she couldn't _talk._ Rose shook herself for being so stupid and kept walking. It was very hard to read all the titles when the lights kept flashing. "Could you please keep the lights on, TARDIS?"

The lights began to stay dark for longer and light more briefly. It was hopeless to try and get the book when she could barely see. She ran back to the central control room, more than a little worried.

She was right outside it when the lights went completely dark.

Silence fell. Rose swallowed, hard. She had never heard silence before, not true silence. Even out here, in the TARDIS, with the engines shut off, there were background noises—the oxygenization mechanism so they could breathe, the gravity control—but now there was nothing.

_Oh, God,_ Rose thought, barely daring to breathe. The ship was huge, and most of the doors should be open, but even so, she knew the air in here wasn't unlimited. _Oh, God, we're in such big trouble. _

"Think, Rose," she whispered. "Calm down. Just calm down..." She made a quick mental list of priorities. _Make sure the Doctor's alright, get tools—I'd better see if I can borrow his screwdriver, try and fix the TARDIS, then get his book. I wish the TARDIS had something for _my_ headache, but I doubt there's anything..._She ran through the list to make sure it was in order, and was almost surprised to find that she'd gotten it exactly in order of importance.

She ran to the Doctor's room, fast enough to get there quickly, but just slow enough to keep her breathing normal. "Doctor, are you alright?"

"What happened to all the lights?"

"All the power's out on the TARDIS," she said, "and I mean all of it." She jumped in the air and put her hands on the door frame, then pulled them back in. She stayed in midair, her legs curled up under her. "I'm floating. It's _bizarre._ There's no gravity, no—anything."

"No air," finished the Doctor, and Rose winced at the flatness of his voice. "This is it."

"No, it is _not_ bloody well it!" she snapped suddenly. "Go to sleep, and I'll fix this."

"But, Rose, l-light's-going-to-be-necessary-to-fix-the-TARDIS."

"I know," she said, biting back a sigh. "I'm not stupid. Where's your screwdriver?" There was a click, the high sound of a sonic tool, and a blue light appeared, illuminating his face. She flinched backwards. He looked _awful_ in the pale glow. She took the screwdriver and whispered, "Thanks."

Five minutes later, she was under the central console, holding down the button of the sonic screwdriver with her teeth, and trying to find out what was wrong. She had no idea what it might be. After looking at everything twice, she decided to ask the Doctor what might do this and where she'd have to look. As she scooted backwards, she heard a voice call her name. "Rose? Rose, I have a question..." As the Doctor stopped speaking, she could also hear a rhythmic rattling sound.

"Yes?"

"D'you think death by suffocation is painful?"

She took the screwdriver out of her mouth, pointed it forwards, and emerged with it pointing straight at him. "What's that noise?"

He looked up at her, his dark eyes glowing eerily in the blue light. "What noise?"

"That rattling. And we're not going to suffocate."

"I know. But do you think it would be painful? And I didn't hear any rattling."

She looked at him suspiciously, and noticed both of his hands were behind his back. "You did, too. You've got something behind your back. I suppose it would probably be rather uncomfortable, yes. Show me your hands."

He held out both hands. "See? Clean."

She gave him her best glare, which she was afraid wasn't very good. "Stand up and keep both of your hands out."

He did. "I've got nothing," he insisted.

"Step aside."

His shoulders slumped, and he did. She pointed the screwdriver at the box on the floor behind where he'd been standing. "What's that?"

"A box."

"Don't waste air," she said. "What is it?"

"A box! I've just told you, it's just a box!" He stepped back in front of her and kicked the box back against the wall.

Rose lunged for it and grabbed it. After barely glancing at it, she threw it halfway across the control room and it clattered into the compartment under the console. She stepped over to stop him from going after it. "You are in big trouble. Go back to bed. Sleep. _Now."_

"But I'm not tired!"

"You sound like a whiny little boy. Go to your room!"

"Serve you right if the air ran out now."

"I'm not trying to be cute, and I'm not trying to be funny. And that's neither cute nor funny, either. _Go to your room._"

His head dropped in defeat, and he shuffled off to his room. Rose climbed back down into the crawlspace. She found the box and stuffed it in her pocket, then began hunting for the problem again. Personally, she thought that her head would be clearer if she didn't have a headache herself, and if she wasn't worried about lack of air.

**A/N: Poor Rose! Trapped in the TARDIS with air running out and no idea what to do! What do you think was in the box? Can she fix the TARDIS? Like it? Dislike it? Review!**


	7. Chapter 7

Rose was focused on finding out what was wrong. If she didn't figure it out soon, it would be over. "Come on," she muttered. "What's going on?"

The Doctor's face suddenly appeared in her sphere of blue light. Rose screamed. She hadn't heard him sneaking up. "What are you _doing_ down here? How many times to I have to tell you to go rest?"

"More." He took the screwdriver from her. "I think you'll be more help by trying to see if you can connect to the TARDIS computer. Go check, I'll stay down here."

"Fine," she said with a sigh, and climbed back up. She tried to computer. "The screen comes on, but it's just—black."

"Fantastic," came his muffled voice from below. "Type in the command User colon doctor, with a capital U in User and a lowercase d in doctor."

Rose did. "It wants the password."

"Same one."

She entered it. "Where did you get _dlrose_ from, anyways?"

"Doesn't matter. Does it say User Accepted?"

"Yes."

"Tell it, Locate colon TARDIS error, capital L, capital TARDIS."

"It's got three, er, dots. Flashing."

"Means it's thinking. That's a good thing."

She played with a strand of her hair. "Doctor," she asked suddenly. "Why can the TARDIS computer be working, when nothing else is?"

"The TARDIS computer, or the part of it you're interfacing with," he called, "is like—er--like a person's subconscious mind. It's like the TARDIS is knocked out, but her subconscious is still working. Does that make sense?"

"So, like—something's wrong with her, and her "conscious mind" shut itself off to protect itself while we work on the problem?"

"Something like that."

Rose looked at the screen. "It says "Error located."

"Type, Identify error, with a--"

"Capital I in identify and a lowercase e in error."

"Yes."

"It's thinking."

"Good."

Rose drummed her fingers on the console. "What I wouldn't give for Jack to be here."

"He'd play music."

"Yeah, I reckon he would."

"He'd want you to dance with him."

She made a face. "No, thanks. I still wish he was here, though. He;d have this figured out in a jiffy. It says, "1A46nft7d f0jb ..."" She rattled off the long string of gibberish on the screen. "What's that all mean?"

"Absolutely nothing. It's a translation error. I don't think it has any translation for really complicated technical terms. Type, List colon languages."

She did. A long line of three-letter codes appeared in two columns. "Are these codes for all the languages the TARDIS knows?"

"Yep. What's the first one?"

"GFN."

"Fantastic. Type—this is long, are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Right. Type, Identify error double space Language colon GFN."

She entered the information in and executed the command. The computer thought. "It's thinking." No sooner had she said it than a lot of characters appeared on the screen. She recognized some of them from the title of the book she'd been fetching. "It's done."

He scrambled up but didn't stop himself, so that he had to put his hands up and shove off the ceiling. "Forgot about that."

"Clearly," Rose laughed.

He pushed her gently aside and read through everything. Then he climbed underneath the console again. Rose waited. She had a vague suspicion she knew what was going to happen.

There was a sudden yelp, a crackle of energy, and a word that the TARDIS didn't translate for Rose. The lights flashed and came on. There was a high whining noise as the oxygenization mechanism kicked in, and she took a deep, shuddering breath, relieved that she didn't have to worry about running out of air. The Doctor climbed up from below the console. His hair was standing on end from the explosion of electricity, but the smile on his face could have powered the ship. "We did it!"

"We did it," she agreed, and grinned. "We're not going to die!" She grabbed his hands and jumped up and down. "We did it, we did it, we did it, we saved the TARDIS and we saved us! We're alive!"

"Alive," he echoed. She let go of his hands, and he stood there, looking dazed. She was awakened from her ecstasy when she saw him sway, and she stepped forward just in time to catch him as he collapsed.

**A/N: Yay! They got the TARDIS back on track! But now the Doctor's out of it again. What now? You'll have to wait and see! The more reviews I get, the sooner you'll get an update! (Hint, hint.) And what language do you suppose that was? :P Not that hard, really.**


	8. Chapter 8

Rose half-dragged the Doctor back to his room. He sort of woke up halfway, but his efforts to help actually made it harder. Somehow, between them, they managed. "How are you feeling, then?" Rose asked.

"My head still hurts," he said sleepily.

"I'm sorry."

"I want an aspirin."

"You can't have one, Doctor," said Rose, a note of exasperation in her voice.

"Yeah...still want one, though."

She couldn't tell if he was being serious or he was just feverish enough that he didn't know what he was talking about. She decided to assume he was being serious, just in case. "You're not stupid enough to waste a life like that," she said severely.

"Might get rid of this sickness," he said.

"Or it might leave you vulnerable to it and you'd die for real," she said, frowning. "It's not a risk I'm willing to let you take, headache or not."

"Nhh," was his only reply. He was asleep.

Rose slipped away. She would find that book now, but first she had two things to do. "TARDIS," she said, "I need you to destroy this or dump it into space or something. I don't care what you do, just make sure it's beyond saving." She took the box out of her pocket and threw it against the wall, as hard as she could. An explosion of sparks lit the room in front of her—she was quite sure that it was no accident some of them struck her—and all that remained was ash.

She sifted her fingers through it, then swept it up in one hand, popped into the kitchen, and dumped it all in the rubbish bin. "All better," she said smugly. Now she went to the library. There was a book she needed to look at first thing, and this one, she knew where it was.

She must have sat there, against the shelves, poring over the heavy volume for three hours before letting it drop to the floor, open to the last page. "Nothing," she said. Suddenly, she was furious. "Nothing! This library has books from across the whole universe; somewhere in here there _has_ to be a book that tells me what to do!" She kicked the book across the aisle, so that it slammed shut. It was supposed to tell her everything she would ever need to know about all kinds of illnesses, but there was _nothing._ She bit back a scream of frustration, clenched her fists, and forced herself to calm down.

"Alright, Doctor Tyler," she said. She grinned, almost able to laugh at that name. "Time to do what you do best—make the Doctor happy." She looked at the paper still in her hand. "TARDIS, could you turn off the lights on all but the language section code GFN?"

The lights went out, save one small section of the library. "Not many books over there," she said, and hurried over. She kept glancing down at the paper as she walked down each aisle very slowly. At last, she found it. "TARDIS, I need the lights again," she called, and half-ran back to the Doctor's room.

She found him awake and very annoyed. "I've been calling your name for ten minutes," he said crossly.

"Sorry," she said. "I was in the library."

"Oh, did you fetch me my book?" he asked, brightening considerably. "Fantastic!"

She handed it to him. He opened the cover and flipped through the pages. "You'd love this one. Absolutely brilliant. Adventure, excitement, drama, humor...you name it. One of my favorites."

"I'd like to read it very much, but it's not written in a language I can understand," she pointed out. "What language is that, anyways?"

"No language."

"There's a book written in a language that's not a language?"

"Yep."

"Why in the world would anyone write a book in a language that was never a language?"

"I didn't say it never was a language. I said it's not a language. There's a difference."

Rose blinked. "So it _was_ a language, but it's not now."

"Yep."

She shook her head. "Well, what language _was _it?"

Right away, she regretted asking. His face went stony, and he looked away. "It doesn't matter."

In her head, she pieced it together. The TARDIS used that language for technical terms. It had once been a language and wasn't now. The code...it all made sense. She wanted to smack herself. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean--"

He shook his head. "I know you didn't. Just go...do something else." He flipped back to the first page and buried his nose in the book.

"You're not actually reading that," said Rose, smirking.

"Yes, I am."

She took his glasses off the table and held them up. "If you were wearing these, I might believe that."

He laughed. "You win. But I really am going to read this." He took his glasses from her hand and put them on. "I'll make the TARDIS fetch you next time." She turned to leave the room, but stopped as he called, "By the way, nice picture."

She whirled, her eyes sparkling. "You'll regret that as soon as you're better!"

He smirked. "But at least I know you won't mortally injure me."

"There are a lot of injuries that aren't deadly," muttered Rose. "You really will regret that." But she was grinning as she whirled and ran away.

She only ran until she reached the control room, though, and her grin faded. The real danger was something she couldn't run from.

**A/N: I don't think I liked the ending of this one much. Hm. Well, I'll try and make the next one better. Lots of people told me to update soon, which made me feel happy. I'll see you all next time!**


	9. Chapter 9

Rose fell asleep with a cup of tea in her hands, sitting in the kitchen. She woke up the same way, with her tea much colder. For a moment, she wondered why she woke up, before she was abruptly informed exactly what had woken her.

_"Roooooose Tyyyylerrrrrrr, have you gone deaf?"_

She jumped up, leaving her cold tea on the table, and marched to the Doctor's room. "I was sleeping, you know," she said, rather crossly.

"Well, you're not now. I'm hungry."

"Go get something to eat, then! I am not your waitress!"

She was almost out the door when she turned back to see him looking quite annoyed. "Don't you need to give me, oh, I don't know, written permission or something?"

She sighed. "Sorry. I'll get you something." She walked back to the kitchen and got him some tea, then returned to his room.

"Did I _say_ I was thirsty?" he asked her, scowling. "Tea is wonderful, but it's not the same thing as food."

She rolled her eyes and fetched him a piece of toast. This was met with the response, "I don't _want_ any toast."

This continued for several minutes, until Rose finally saw the bananas sitting on the counter. She ripped one savagely off the bunch and marched back to the Doctor. "Eat it," she said, forcing it into his hand. "_Now."_

He held it between his teeth. "Ishish beh-ah?"

She hid her face with her hands, but it was to guard the grin on her face. "Oh, _Doctor."_

"Wha?"

She shook her head. "You're so—_you,_ that's all."

The TARDIS began chiming loudly. "Cah you ache ahing _hah?"_

"I can't understand you," she said, smirking.

He took the banana out of his mouth. "Can you make her _stop_ it?"

"I probably should, shouldn't I?" She laughed. "I'll go do it now."

She typed in the password, but before she pressed enter, she froze. Something had just struck her.

She entered the password and the screen came up. At once, she asked, "TARDIS?"

The TARDIS hummed softly.

"Er—hang on a tick," said Rose. She crept to the Doctor's room. "You should rest," she said softly. "You'll get better faster, you know."

"Mmm," he said. He seemed half-asleep already. She slipped back to the control room, shutting the door behind her.

"TARDIS, I've got a question," she said. The TARDIS hummed. "It's—about the computer password. I need some...numbers."

The screen darkened. She took a deep breath, and then said, "What's the likelyhood that the password _dlrose_ was random?"

.5, said the TARDIS screen.

"So the probability it means something is..."

99.5.

She swallowed. "What's the probability that the _d_ means _Doctor?_"

99.5.

Rose closed her eyes. "I'm avoiding the point, here. What I want to ask—that is, the question I really need an answer to—I'm trying to say..." She had to just get it over with. "What's the probability, assuming that the password is intentional, that it means Doctor loves Rose?"

100.

She could feel her heart hammering in her throat, hear the crashing waves of her pulse in her ears. The world seemed to have gone out from under her, and she felt dizzy, lightheaded.

"One hundred per cent," she whispered. "Oh, God. I don't believe it. I don't—can't believe it..."

She wasn't sure how she got there, but somehow she was just inside the Doctor's room, leaning against the doorframe, watching him. Had that what he'd been thinking of, all the time, when she was in danger, when worlds were collapsing around them? She remembered—it seemed so long ago!--when the Slitheen had attacked her home for the first time. When the world had been perched on the verge of complete annihilation, he'd had one very, very dangerous, almost suicidal plan that might cost all their lives. She could still hear his voice in her head. _I could save the world but lose you,_ he'd said. Rose understood now what she hadn't then.

His voice cut into her thoughts. "You look like you're about to fall over, Rose." Short and to the point—no beating around the bush for him. She hadn't realized he was watching her, too. His brown eyes were full of concern. "Come over here. I think you need to sit down."

"I'm fine," she said, trying to steady herself.

He looked at her severely. "Rose, I know a lot more about humans than you do about Time Lords, and I'm telling you right now, you need to sit down. Come over here, now."

Reluctantly, she came and sat down on the very edge of the bed. "I'm fine," she said, even though she felt less fine over here than she had by the door.

His hand fell on hers. "You're shivering." She realized she was and tried to stop shaking, but she couldn't. "Are you cold?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine." She suddenly turned to look at him and smirked. "Nice password, by the way."

He blushed. "What are you talking about? It's just random."

She grinned even more. "You're blushing."

"I'm not!" he said, alarmed, and blushed even more furiously.

She laughed. "You are, too. And it's _not_ a random password."

"Oh, really?" he countered. "What does it mean, then?"

She half-smiled, her eyes sparkling. "It means that even though you face Daleks and Cybermen and Slitheen and heaven only knows what else, you're not as brave as you act."

"Where d'you get that from?" he demanded. "How does _dlrose_ tell you that?"

"Because," she said, nervous but in too deep to back out now, "if you were really as brave as you pretend to be, you would have done what I'm about to do a long, long time ago."

His eyes widened, almost imperceptibly. "Rose, what--"

Before he could finish, she kissed him, as fiercely as she could. It felt like a lot longer than a minute or so before she remembered that they both had to breathe, and a lot longer than a minute or so didn't feel like long enough.

"Ow," he said softly. "Dizziness and...er...not-able-to-breathe-ness _really_ don't help my headache."

"Sorry," she said, breathless. Then, grinning mischievously, she added, "And that's _not_ a random password."

"No," he agreed, and she swallowed when she saw how distant his eyes were.

Knowing the truth only made it that much harder, that much more painful, to see him suffer.

**A/N: Yes! Finally! 10Roseness! Fluffiness! Yay! I liked this chapter a lot better than last. Cookies for everyone who knew what the password meant! Like it? Dislike it? Want fluff to continue? More of it? Less of it? Want something superexciting to happen? REVIEW AND TELL ME! I can't give you what you want from the story if you don't tell me what you DO want from it! See you!**

**-SS-**


	10. Chapter 10

Ten minutes later, Rose was still sitting there, thought the Doctor had fallen asleep. He kept talking to himself, but he didn't seem very feverish, and he was smiling. She heard him mumble something about chocolate, and smiled herself.

It wasn't very comfortable to sit on the edge of the bed like that, so she got up. She walked briskly to the kitchen, grabbed the best chair in there, and dragged it back to his room. That would be more comfortable.

Before she sat down again, she went to the library. She needed something to do. As she walked, she noticed that she could taste cinnamon, which was strange, because she hadn't eaten anything with cinnamon. A moment later, the answer came to her. The Doctor tasted like cinnamon. Satisfied with that conclusion, she found five books that looked interesting and were in English.

As she returned to the Doctor's room, she was cheerful, and wondered vaguely if she tasted like chocolate. Then, she arrived at the door, and froze. The books tumbled out of her hands and she stared in dismay. She'd only been gone twenty minutes—how could he have gotten worse so quickly?

But he was definitely worse. He thrashed around, his breathing uneven, and she knew that his hearts would be racing far too fast. "Doctor," she said, darting forwards. "Doctor!" She brushed her fingers down the side of his face, and jerked them back almost at once. She might have _literally_ burned her hand. "That's not even _possible,_" she whispered, then shook her head impatiently. For a human, certainly not, but for a Time Lord, obviously it was. Well, Time Lord or not, that's _couldn't_ be good.

She fumbled for her cell phone and called Jackie. "Hello?" came the voice.

"Mum!"

"Rose! Rose, are you alright?"

"Yes, Mum, but I've got a really, really important question. What temperature does something need to be to burn you if you just brush against it?"

"I don't know, Rose, it's got to be pretty high! Why?"

She swallowed. "D'you know what temperature a person can die at, Mum?"

"Er—forty or fifty, I think--" said Jackie. "Rose, is something wrong?"

"Yes," whispered Rose, her voice shaking. "Yes, something's wrong. Something's _very_ wrong."

"What's happening? Are you alright? Rose?"

"I'll—I'll call you later, Mum." Rose hung up the phone. She was shaking and there were tears in her eyes. _No. No, no, no, no, no..._

"I can't break down," she whispered, trying and failing to be strong. "I can't now, not now, I can't break down, c-can't...no, I can't do this, I really can't..." She rubbed her eyes with her hands. "I've got to, though, I can't _not_ do it." She laughed bitterly. "Can't do it, can't not do it. I'm trapped, aren't I, TARDIS?"

She tried to think what she could do, but her mind was drawing a blank. "Doctor," she said, "can you hear me?"

"Rose," he whispered. "Rose...I can't...please, no, not her, not Rose, take me, kill me, but leave Rose alone..."

"Cloth," Rose said to herself. "Doctor, I'm here. I'm right here. I'll be back in just a minute and I'll make it better."

She got up. "I need some sort of cloth. TARDIS?"

There was no answer but a rumbling sound. No help there. _How thick are you? She can't talk!_ She'd have to do this herself. There was a clean dish towel in the kitchen, and that was close. She went there and soaked the towel in icy-cold water. For the final touch, she wrapped some ice in it. That would do it.

She marched back to the Doctor's room. "I'm here," she said, her voice shaking. "Don't die. You've got to live. Please...for me."

An hour passed, two hours, three. The lights dimmed until it was very dark—nighttime. Rose completely ignored the change, except to tell the TARDIS, "I need _some_ light please, thanks." She stopped counting the hours. The lights came on again. It was morning back home. She sighed, half-closing her eyes, but not daring to fall asleep.

"Rose?"

Her head snapped up. "Yes?" She had to focus to stop from losing herself in his eyes. _You silly lovebird, you!_

He blinked at her, confused. "Why are you here?"

"I live here, silly."

"Not in the TARDIS—here, in my room."

"Don't you want me in here?" she asked, standing. "I can go, if you like."

His hand shot out faster than she would have thought possible. "No! No, don't—don't go..."

She smiled and sat back down. "I won't."

"What time is it?"

She looked at her phone. "Er—eight in the morning."

"How long have you been in here?"

"Since...last night. I think."

He nodded, still disoriented, and ran his hand over his face. "I've got water on my face," he said.

She laughed. "So you do."

He shook his head. "Ow," he complained. "I'm thirsty. Go get me something."

She smirked. "Oh, but to do that, I'd have to leave, now, wouldn't I?"

He frowned. "Can't have that, now, can we?" he murmured. "I suppose I'll just have to die of dehydration. Probably less painful than dying of lack of Rose..."

"Oh, but if you died of dehydration, I would die of lack of Doctor," she said in mock terror. "That would be awful!"

"Well, then, we seem to be in quite a conundrum," he said, grinning. "How shall we solve this one, then?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "Does this help?" She kissed him.

He looked dazed, but grinned even more broadly. "Not really, but thanks anyway."

Rose giggled and brushed his not-ginger hair out of his eyes. "I really should--"

She never finished what she was about to say. An alarm blared loudly, and the TARDIS jolted to the side. Without realizing it, she grabbed the Doctor's hand. She knew what was happening.

The TARDIS was under attack.

**A/N: And you probably all thought that it was going to be a whole chapter of complete fluff! That's where I leave you, with the devastating knowledge that something terrible that threatens both of them is coming! Muahahahaha, I'm so evil! **

**So, like it? Dislike it? Going to die if I don't post the next chapter soon? Too much fluff? Just right fluff? Review!**

**-SS-**


	11. Chapter 11

Rose jumped up and took three steps towards the door before the Doctor grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "Rose, wait. What do you think is attacking the ship?"

"I don't know! Daleks? Slitheen? Cybermen?"

"Guess."

She frowned. "Daleks use lasers, which wouldn't rock the ship like that. Slitheen use...electric... things. Which also would not rock the ship. Cybermen, er, I guess it could be Cybermen. That sounds possible."

"Go see who it is, what they want, and why they're shooting at us."

"That _was_ my plan, you know." She grinned and ran to the control room. The ship pitched again and she went sprawling. "TARDIS, attempt to establish radio contact with whoever's doing that!"

There was a hum, and Rose shouted, "Hello? Hello, can anyone hear me?"

"Sorry about the jerking around," a voice called over the connection. "Could you please tell your ship not to do that?"

She staggered towards the door and looked out into space. There seemed to be no other ship. "Who _are_ you, and why are you shooting at us?"

"I'm not shooting at anyone! That's not my fault, either! Your ship is doing it!"

"The TARDIS isn't doing anything! Who am I _talking_ to? And why is it shaking like that if you're not shooting at us?"

"I don't know! Ask _her!"_

"Ask—what? You know about the TARDIS, you say you aren't shooting at us, and you won't explain yourself. Who are you?"

"Rose! I can't get into your ship unless I can get near, and I think she's sending out shock waves, which probably explains the shaking. Tell her to let me dock!"

"I hear music," Rose said, frowning.

"I don't hear any music," called the Doctor from somewhere behind her. "Turn the volume up. And who's attacking us?"

"I'm not entirely sure we're being attacked," said Rose. "How do you know my name?" she added to the radio.

"Will you just tell the Doctor to come here? I know he's there, I just heard him. And would you like me to make the music louder?" This was followed by the faint music she'd heard becoming a _lot_ louder. "Better?" shouted the voice on the other end.

"Jack? Is that Jack?"

"Who else? Will you please fetch the Doctor?"

"He can't come talk. I'll make her stop. TARDIS, let Jack here, silly girl."

The radio went dead. Several seconds later, there was a violent tremor that made sparks fly from the TARDIS console and Rose fall to the floor. She heard a _thump_ and the Doctor shouted something that sounded like "They've got cannons!"

The doors opened and Jack Harkness stepped into the TARDIS. "Did I just hear something about cannons?"

"Er—yes--'s what's it sounded like," said Rose, rather distractedly.

"TARDIS not working?"

"No, no, she's fine! She _wasn't_ working yesterday, though, all the lights went out and we were floating about, and there was no air—but she's better now."

"Why've you stopped in the middle of space, then?" He seemed a bit confused.

"I had to shut her off—couldn't fly her—I'll explain in a moment--"

"Have they called a ceasefire?" The Doctor stepped into the hallway to look at them curiously. "What's _he_ doing on my ship?" he added, open hostility in his voice.

"Go to sleep, Doctor," Rose told him automatically. He vanished.

"In a bit of a weird mood, isn't he?" asked Jack, now utterly bewildered.

"He's—not well," said Rose, and quickly explained the past few days.

"Well, I'm useless, then," said Jack. "Sounds like a pain. Wish I could help."

"You can stay here," said Rose. "Run errands. Cook. Tell me I'm not going insane. Stop me from throwing myself into space when it's too much."

"Right-o. Wait, cook? Me? Rose, you have _no_ idea how much you do _not_ want me cooking anything. Really, really not a good idea. But I'd be happy to stop you from throwing yourself into space."

"Ro-ose! Can I get up pleeeeeeease?"

"No," Rose shouted. "You're supposed to be asleep."

"But I have to strangle Jaaaaaaack."

"No, you don't," she said, biting back laughter at the terror on Jack's face. "Ignore him, he's out of it and doesn't know what he's saying."

"I know very well what I'm saying, thank you very—ooh, stars..."

Rose doubled over with laughter. Jack grinned and leaned against the console. The Doctor called, "If it's daytime, why are there stars?"

"Stay here," said Rose, glaring at Jack. She marched to the Doctor's room. "Doctor, are you... alright?"

He looked at her, and his face lit up. "Rose! Rosy rosy Rose." He laughed. "Did you miss me?"

She laughed. "Miss you? I was only down the hall, silly!"

His face fell. "You didn't miss me?" Suddenly he brightened again. "Look, Rose! Stars!"

She frowned, concerned that he was so distracted and...well, silly. "Yes, stars. I think you should go to sleep, Doctor."

"But I don't want to go to sleep."

"Why?"

"You know how they say rest is the best medicine?"

"Yes."

"Well, if I go to sleep, I might get better."

"That's...a _good_ thing, Doctor."

"But then you wouldn't come in here so often."

"Well..."

"And you wouldn't bring me tea."

"D'you want some tea?"

"Oh, yes, that sounds fantastic. I like tea. Tea is good."

With a slight smile, Rose turned to go get tea. But she couldn't go more than a step. She looked at the Doctor. "Will you let go?" she asked, somewhat exasperated.

"No. If I let you go for ten seconds, you'll wander off and get into trouble..."

Great. Now he didn't even know they were in the TARDIS. "Jack," she called, "will you go pour some tea for us?"

"...care that it's your own fault, oh, no, if you come back with a scratch on you, I'll be the one who regrets it!" the Doctor was saying. "I swear, Rose Tyler, your mother is more terrifying than all the aliens I've ever fought. Combined. If a Dalek laid a...er...plunger on you, she could get rid of the whole army, by scaring them off with her death glare! Daleks aren't easily scared, either. Nor am I, but Jackie scares me. And Daleks. Daleks are shiny. So are stars. And your eyes. Your eyes are shiny, Rose, did you know that?"

Rose had to laugh, as worried as she was. As he rambled on about this and that and nothing in particular, she was glad to hear the sound of his voice.

**A/N: Ooooh! YESSSSS!! Haha, I just watched the regeneration episode. "New teeth...that's weird." I now am filled with excess Doctor Who energy, and so I'm very hyper, and very EXTRA obsessed, so I'll probably post, like, five chapters of, like, everything tonight. **

**About this chapter—Meh, I don't really want Jack there. Actually, I can't decide if I do or don't want him there. I brought him in because he's pretty cool, I guess, in a weird, Jack sort of way, but I'll probably kick him out soon because I don't like him in a I'm-waaaaayyy-too-10Rose-centric-to-put-up-with-Jack-Harkness sort of way. **

**I also came up with the ending for this story. It's not for a while, yet, though, so don't expect it soon! All I'll say is, it's REALLY good. I can't wait! **

**If anyone guesses how it ends, I will award you the title of Best Predictificator in the Sandstorm Awards. After I flay you alive for ruining it. And give you cookies for knowing Doctor Who and me well enough to guess.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: As I was writing this chapter, I kept hearing the TARDIS. I'm not kidding. I'm still on a Doctorrush from watching Parting of Ways. I swear, it sounded just like the TARDIS!! Weirdest thing, too. Heard it when I started this story, heard it again when I added in this note. Scary.**

**Anyways, I have to warn you. WARNING: There is an excess of Jack Harkness in this chapter. This chapter is not incredibly vital to the story, so please, you are welcome to SKIP IT if you have an problem with Jack. Feel free. Be my guest. I probably would.**

"Your Tea, Lord and Lady of the TARDIS," said Jack with a mock bow, holding both teacups in one hand.

"You're going to spill those," said Rose, taking the tea from him. "Here you are, Doctor."

"Oh, tea," he said distractedly. "I like tea. Tea is good. Not as good as bananas, but you can't have everything. Or can you? Do we have any bananas? We need to go shopping for food. And while we're at it, you can get some new shoes. Like mine. Do you like my shoes, Rose?"

"Drink your tea, Doctor," she told him, knowing that interrupting was the only way to avoid a very long rant about absolutely nothing.

"Oh, yes," he said gratefully. "Thank you. Look at that! It's Jack! When did he arrive? Hello, Jack! Remember when you first met Rose?" All three of them said the words with him, adjusting accordingly. "She had the Union Jack all over her chest, you had an invisible spaceship; you didn't stand a chance." He kept talking. "And then, your spaceship blew up, and I said, I said, "There's going to be a draft." A lot of things seem to blow up when I'm around. That factory, Rose's shop, your spaceship...though that one wasn't _strictly_ my fault, unlike the other two...I get blamed for a lot of things that aren't strictly my fault. I usually regret them happening, but it's not as if I could do anything. I can't stop Rose from wandering off, now, can I, and I'm always the one who gets smacked for letting her into trouble, when it's her own fault for not listening to me, why do they never listen to me..."

"Your tea is getting cold," Rose reminded him gently.

"Can't have that, can we?" He grinned at her and drank half the tea in one swallow. "Oh, excellent tea. Who made it?"

"Not Jack," said Rose, at the same time as Jack said, "Not me."

"Fantastic, Rose," the Doctor mumbled, and smiled sleepily. He finished the tea and pulled the duvet up to his chin. "Night..."

"Night, Doctor," she said, grinning. She stood up and went to the kitchen, Jack following a few steps behind her.

"So," he said, leaning on the table and sipping his tea with a flirtatious smile. "How's life on the TARDIS?"

"It was fantastic until the Doctor collapsed," said Rose, scowling. She sighed, then, a lonely sigh, a sad sigh. "It still is fantastic, I suppose," she added more quietly. "I just..."

She was so tired. It was just so hard to keep doing it, to pretend it didn't hurt her to see him like this, to be as strong as she could possibly be. She might have been the bravest girl alive when aliens attacked, when she had to stand tall against legions of galactic evildoers and stop them from destroying everything she held dear. But against this, against an enemy that she couldn't see, couldn't fight, against something that hurt the Doctor in a way far worse than anything Daleks or Cybermen or Slitheen could do, she was useless.

She tried as hard as she could to stop the tears from overflowing, to keep being strong and brave like she had been for the past few days, but she just couldn't do it anymore. She closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands. Jack stood up—she could hear the chair slide back—and walked around the table and stood behind her and pulled her into a big, Jackish bear hug. Not flirting or seductive or anything—and she would have stopped him if it had been—but just a comforting, friend-to-friend, okay-to-cry kind of hug. She might have pushed him away, but she was too worn and weary to care.

"'S alright," said Jack. "He's going to be fine, you know. He always is. Never doubted 'im, never will. He'll be fine." He let go of her and moved to the side, then turned her to face him. She looked up at him, her vision blurred with tears. He grinned at her. "I think you need some sleep, Time Girl. Come on, now, finish your tea and off to bed with you."

"But—the Doctor--"

"Even I can look after him for a couple hours," he scoffed. "You've hardly slept since he's been like this, I'll bet. How's this sound? I'll go in there and just watch, and if he starts flopping around like a fish out of water or talking in his sleep—in general, if he's feverish—I'll come wake you up right away. Okay?"

"Alright," she said softly, then stopped. She marched right up to him. "Jack?"

"Yes?"

"This is for flirting with me just a minute ago," she said, and slapped him across the face. "Take that as being from the Doctor. He'd have done it himself if he was in any fit state to be smacking you." And with a smile on her face from the look on Jack's face, she vanished to her room.

Rose wasn't sure how much later it was when she awoke. Jack hadn't gotten her up, so she assumed the Doctor was fine. She felt very refreshed. All she needed to top it off was a cup of tea.

While she was in the kitchen getting her tea, Jack came in. She looked up and asked, "How long was I asleep?"

"Seventeen hours," he said. "I would have gotten you up a lot sooner, but you really needed a rest. You look much better now, by the way."

She hit him good-naturedly on the arm. "Better not let the Doctor hear you saying that, no matter _how_ you mean it, or you'll have a lot worse than a slap on the face to worry about."

"You know I really _didn't_ mean it that way," he protested.

"Yeah, but the Doctor's got a fever and a headache and he won't know the difference," she said reasonably. "Or won't care about the difference."

"True," said Jack.

"How _is_ the Doctor, anyways?"

"Er..."

She gave him her best tell-the-truth-or-else glare, which she suspected was not really very good at all. "You _did_ keep your promise?"

"Yes," he said, with absolute honesty in her face. "Captain's word for it, and if I'm lying I'm your eternal servant. As long as you can prove it."

"I don't need to prove it, if you'll promise that," she said. "Though I don't think anyone in their right mind would ever make that promise to _you._.."

"Hey, now," he complained. "That's not very fair. I'm not _that _bad."  
She raised her eyebrows. "Not to be rude, Jack, but you are every bit that bad." She grinned, shaking her head. "It would take a _long_ time to list all the ways in which you're that bad."

"Well, then," he said, mocking insult. "You'll be glad that I'm leaving!"

"Leaving?" She was torn between relief and disappointment. "Why?"

He grinned at her. "Someone's got to protect the universe while the Doctor's out of it. Might as well be the most experienced person. I'll see you later, Rose."

"See you later, I guess," she said. "Thanks for the help, Jack."

"Anytime, Time Girl," he said. Marching across the control room, he threw the doors wide and stepped into his ship. With a cheerful wave, he shut the doors. A moment later, the TARDIS rocked violently, and then he was gone, leaving Rose alone in outer space again.

Not sure whether she was glad or sad that Jack was gone, she went to see the Doctor.

**A/N: He's gone. :D We're safe. Yay!**

**He's not that bad, I guess. Sorta. Maybe. I didn't want him to die, but I'm perfectly alright with him not being on the TARDIS. In the show AND in my story. **


	13. Chapter 13

Rose crept into the Doctor's room. "Doctor?" she asked softly.

He mumbled something inaudible. He'd pulled the covers all the way up over his head.

"What was that?"

"Tellahahrissernalyssow."

She looked at him, walked over, and pulled the blankets off his head. He had his hands over his eyes, and whimpered when she took the duvet away. "Issurye."

"Sorry, I don't speak mumbletongue," she teased. "You'll have to be a little louder."

"Tell! The TARDIS! To turn! The lights out!" He reached down to pull the covers up, at the same time as the lights flashed brightly. "Ow!"

"TARDIS, don't be mean," she scolded. "Turn the lights off. That's a good girl." She saw him move in the darkness, his hand fall limp at his sides. "How are you? Anything I can get you?"

"No," he said. "But could you stay here?"

"Course I will," she said with a cheerfulness she didn't really feel. "Whatever helps." She sat down in the chair that was still there. "But you didn't answer my first question."

"I'm okay, I guess." He paused. "I wish I could sleep."

"Sleep, then."

"I can't."

"You sure you're alright?"

"F-fine."

She could see the outline of his curled form by the starlight filtering through the window. He was shaking. "No, you're not. You're cold." She moved instinctively to brush his hair out of his face and flinched at how hot his face was. "You're _hot."_

"Am I?" he echoed softly, and she blushed faintly. "Keep your hand there," he added. "That feels nice. You're warm."

"Can I turn some lights on?" she asked. "I can't really see."

"Don't make them too bright."

"TARDIS, I need some lights, just a few and as dim as they can be."

The lights came on, just enough that she could make out his face. He was turned towards her, his eyes closed.

"How've the last couple hours been?" the Doctor asked her suddenly.

"Depends what you mean by _last couple hours,_" Rose told him, a little sheepishly. "I was asleep for a lot of them."

"Last time you were awake, then."

"Alright. You talked a lot."

"Oh."

"You were awake, though, just confused."

"Ah," he said, opening his eyes and grinning. "What did I say?"

"Um...that tea is good, but not as good as bananas, and we didn't have any bananas, so we needed to go shopping for some more food, and while we were doing that we could get me some new shoes. And you asked if I liked your shoes."

He laughed. "Anything else?"

"Well, first, you were angry at Jack, and then you were glad to see him..."

"Jack was here?"

"Yeah, he just left."

"Oh."

"You also said...er...something about my mother being so terrifying she could scare away Daleks. And that Daleks were shiny. And stars were, too. And..."

He pushed himself up on one hand, watching her intently. "And what?"

"And...my eyes."

"They are." He must have seen the color rising in her cheeks, because he added, "It's a statement of fact! Everyone's eyes are shiny."

"I guess that's true," she said. She wanted to say something about how his eyes weren't shiny, not right now, but she held her tongue.

"Yours aren't as shiny as they usually are," he said, almost accusingly. "Your eyes are shinier when you're laughing."

She shrugged. "I'm sorry."

"So laugh."

"I don't feel like laughing."

"I'm the Doctor, and I'm telling you to laugh."

"Well, you can't just tell me to laugh! There's nothing to laugh at!"

"But Roooooose..."

"Ha, ha, ha."

"Not good enough."

"Deal with it. I gave it my best shot."

He looked at her, that clever gleam coming into his eyes. He was plotting something. She kept her face calm. He grinned, then, inspiration lighting up his face. "What if I promise to get better soon if you laugh for me?"

She thought about it. "Maybe. If you can make me laugh."

He closed his eyes and seemed to be deep in thought. Then he looked at her, positively beaming. "Hello, Rose! Did you miss me? Tea, that's all I needed, quick cup of tea!" He jumped up and pretended to yank something out of the air. "You just can't have the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy." He pointed at an invisible Sycorax leader. Rose smiled. He spun suddenly. "You're smiling! I win!"

She stepped back, surprised, and then laughed. "Now I really win," the Doctor said, rather pleased with himself.

"Now you—you just—get back in bed, you--" Rose gasped, doubled over at his reenactment.

He ignored her and bounced past her, out the door. She followed, staggering down the hall, still laughing. He was in the control room, looking around.

"And, what's this?" he asked, pointing to nothing. "A great...big..._thrrrrrrrreatening_ button."

Rose laughed. "Thrrrrrrrreatening," she mocked. "What are you, a wolf?"

He grinned at her. "Might be. You never can tell, can you?"

"Go back to bed! You're supposed to be resting!"

"Welllll," he said, stepping back to think, "I want some tea."

"Fine. Get your tea and go to _bed!"_

Very slowly, he wandered in the general direction of the kitchen. Suddenly, he stopped, and leaped towards the console. "Hm, I think this needs some work. Don't you?"

"Don't you dare. Get your tea or don't get your tea, and _go back to bed!"_

He ambled into the kitchen. To make sure he got a cup of tea, Rose followed. He leaned against the counter and ripped a banana off the bunch.

"You said you were getting tea," she said accusingly.

The Doctor looked at her with his most innocent face. "I'm hungry!" he said with his mouth full.

"Yuck! Don't talk with your mouth full, that's disgusting!" She got out a mug and poured some tea in, but there was barely any left and it was mostly dregs. "Oh, no, I've got to make more tea."

"I'll do it!" He bounced forwards, leaving half a banana lying abandoned on the counter. He pulled out every kind of tea in the kitchen.

"You can't make all those kinds of tea at the same time," she said. "That won't work very well."

He grinned at her. "Watch me." He proceeded to dump seven types of tea in the teapot, fill it with water, and half-hop, half-run to the stove. This resulted in most of the water spilling, so he had to go get more. He set the kettle to boil and was walking to the table when he slipped on the wet floor and went sprawling.

"'M alright," he called loudly, getting to his feet. "Really, I am. Well, I've still got this bloody headache, but other than that..."

He sat down at the table and promptly forgot that the tea was being made, or at least appeared to, because he jumped about a foot and knocked his chair over backwards when the kettle screeched. Rose snorted and got the tea. As she sat down and the Doctor picked himself up off the floor for the second time, she said, "Now, you drink that tea and go _rest,_ you hear me?"

"Right you are, Rose," he said cheerfully. He took a gulp of tea, was dead silent for about a second with a look of confusion slowly spreading across his face, and then started coughing violently. "What sort of tea d'you call _that?"_ he spluttered as he choked on it. "That's _terrible,_ that is!"

"I warned you," she pointed out cooly. "Come on, then, drink it or make some more or just go to _bed!"_

He jumped up and grinned. "Right you are, Rose." He got up and walked towards the door into the pantry.

She blocked his way. "Nuh-uh. Your room is the other way."

"Oh, yes, that's right." He spun on his heel and marched out the other door. She followed him to his room. As they reached the door, he suddenly broke into a sprint, running past the door and down the hall. He glanced briefly over his shoulder. "Catch me if you can!" he teased.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?" She sighed and ran after him.

**A/N: XDXDXD The Doctor's feeling better, now, isn't he? A liiiiittle bit hyperactive, more like he usually is. Er, scratch that, make that a LOT hyper. Like he usually is. XD Poor Rose. What's going to happen now? Dundundunnnn! Well, if you want to find out, I need to write the next chapter. To write the next chapter, I need to be inspired. To be inspired, I need to be happy. To be happy, I need you guys to REVIEW! You get it. Review, or I'll set the evil kitties on you. Mwahahahahahahahaha!!**

**SS**


	14. Chapter 14

"Oh, come off it," said Rose, now thoroughly annoyed. She was standing in a junction of not two, not even three, but _four_ corridors. Three ways he might have gone would have been bad enough. Five would be a nightmare. But seven? _That_ was bordering on ridiculous.

"Doctor!" she shouted, looking around all the halls. "Doctor, where are you? I'm going to find you if it's the last thing I ever do, and trust me, if you keep on running away, it might well be the last thing _you _do for a long time, because I'll tie you down, I swear I will! Come here, now!"

She waited for a moment, then shook her head. "Not working." She glanced down each hall, and saw exactly what she was looking for. He was standing there, at the end of the hall, grinning and poking the tip of his tongue out at her.

"Ooh, he's going to regret that," she muttered, and charged at him. He didn't see her coming for a moment, and she thought she had him. But when she lowered her head to concentrate on speed, she was suddenly struck by an intense pain in the top of her head. She'd run into the wall. She feel back, dazed, and sat there on the floor until she could see straight again. Then she walked quickly down the hall at a right angle to the one she was in.

One door, under the stairs, was slightly ajar. She sighed and poked her head in, careful not to it it on the underside of the steps. "Doctor?"

There was no answer.

"Doctor, I know you're in here. It's not funny, no matter how much you think it is." She bit back a giggle. "Well, alright, maybe it's a _little_ funny. But not if it makes you worse, it won't be." Frowning, she added, "You know, I think there's a pattern to this. Every time you've been doing something, actually doing something you've been fine for a bit, and then you've collapsed."

She heard a creak from behind her, and turned to scold him some more. No one was there.

"Alright, that really _isn't_ funny," she said, putting her hands on her hips and scowling. "Come out."

She walked slowly forwards, until suddenly the Doctor jumped out at her, his face contorted into a hideous expression, like a gargoyle. Surprised, Rose screamed and stumbled back, and he was off again, running full-tilt down the hall. She gave chase.

Where had he gone now? She had no idea. And then she saw that half the lights were out back the way she'd come.

"Nice try," she said, and followed the turned-out lights. She had to feel her way back to the control room. "Now where?" she said, exasperated.

There was a note stuck to the console. "Hello, Rose!" it said. "You'll really have to read between the lines to find me this time!"

"Library," she said automatically, and headed there.

The Doctor did not seem to be in the library, but she was smarter than that. "TARDIS, what book might have the Doctor in it?"

Most of the lights went out. She followed the shelves to the remaining lights and pulled out a book. When she flipped through the pages, a scrap of paper fell out.

"I was thirsty, so I went to make a cup of tea. Don't worry, I won't mix it all up again." she read aloud. "Right, then, kitchen."

The same happened in the kitchen, but again she found another note. "I won't be in my room. I just wanted to find your phone. I've been meaning to add a number to it."

"Little sneak, he's been in my room," Rose growled, and ran.

For her room she was led to the wardrobe, to the pantry, and finally to the sitting room. She was exhausted by the time she reached the room. "He'd better be in here," she said, panting, and opened the door.

He was in there, beaming at her. "Well done, you've found me. Didn't take you as long as I thought it would.

"You went in my room to tape a note to my phone," she said. "Not to mention leading me on wild goose chase all over the place. You know, it's really not a good idea for you to be running around like this."

"Oh, don't be thick," he scoffed. "I'm fine. See? Much better already. I promised if you laughed, I'd get better extra quick, and so here...here I am."

She sighed. "You still need to rest. Go back to bed."

"But I'm..."

"No, you're not fine," she said, more softly. "Oh, Doctor, you're so stubborn. You'll get yourself into trouble you can't get out of one day."

"But Rose, I'm--" he began, and stopped. He took a step towards her, so he was barely a step away. He'd gone very pale. "No, never mind, I'm not fine," he said in little more than a whisper, and crumpled to the ground.

**A/N: Oh, no! He should have listened to Rose in the first place. Now what's she going to do?! You know the drill—REVIEW, and you'll find out! **

**SS**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: This is now officially my longest story on . Wow! I'm so excited about it; this is fantastic. I want to thank everyone who's reviewed this story, especially Soreye, who reviews even when there isn't anything to say (you're the greatest!) and lil sakura haruno, who still reviews almost every chapter. But everyone counts, and every single one of you is the reason this story exists and is the longest on I have.**

**Therefore, I dedicate this chapter to everyone who has ever reviewed this story, because without you, it wouldn't exist. Thank you all so much, and enjoy!**

She never was quite sure how, but Rose managed to get the Doctor all the way back to his room. It wasn't easy, especially as worn out as she already was. Even so, she did it, and stood there for a minute, watching him. She didn't have to touch his face to know he was feverish, worse than before.

"He's in trouble," she said softly. "He's in trouble now, and it's all my fault, just because I didn't laugh." She sat down on the edge of the bed and buried her face in her hands. "What have I done?"

She laid her hand on his chest and felt the beating of one heart, quick and jumpy. She moved her hand to the other side, and found that his other heartbeat was slower, stumbling, not matched up with the first. A tear trickled down her cheek, and she turned her face away. She could both feel and hear his breathing, too fast, too uneven.

And she couldn't take it any more. She jumped up and ran, the door slamming shut behind her, and she hid behind the counsel and sat there, crying but not sobbing, until her tears ran out. Even then, she stayed there, knowing how much it would hurt her to go in there and knowing that she had to, and she didn't want to face it. She pretended that if she just stayed back here, it would all go away, and everything would be alright, when she knew that it wasn't.

"This isn't fair," she told herself. "It's not fair. What did I do to deserve this? What did _he_ do to deserve this?" She took a deep, shuddering breath. "Alright. Alright, I've got to do it. I _will._ But first..." She pulled out her phone and called Jackie.

"Rose?"

"Mum!" She laughed, even though there wasn't anything to laugh at, just because it was so _normal_ to hear Jackie's voice on the phone.

"Rose, what's wrong? You never call me—which I can understand, at least right now, I mean, it's not as if you've just got spare time on your hands, what with—oh, I'll shut up. What do you need?"

"Just—to talk. For a few minutes. I think the Doctor will live. I just need to hear your voice."

"How are you, all alone up there?"

"I'm not alone, not always, anyways—it's not like Christmas, he's awake sometimes, so I'm not just sitting here. Only, every time he wakes up and feels better, he thinks he's all cured, and then he gets—oh, you know how he is, Mum, he gets all excited and starts doing things, and somehow manages to make himself worse every time. Last time, there wasn't really a choice, I needed his help—the TARDIS stopped working, did I tell you?"

"No, you didn't! Oh, dear, well, you're alright now, obviously, but that must have been _terrifying_ out there with no one to help you...anyways, how's the Doctor now?"

"He's—asleep," Rose said, trying hard not to choke on her own words.

"Asleep, or—or—well, you know what I mean. Asleep or sort-of asleep?"

"Well—I'm not sure he's _sleeping,_ exactly. More like he sort of passed out. He was just trying to make me _laugh,_ Mum, and I couldn't make myself do it, so he was being all silly—got up and started reenacting what happened up on that ship at Christmas, you know. I'll have to tell him to do that for you sometime, you'd like it. Anyway, I suppose he thought that he must be better if he could jump around doing that, because he went to get a cup of tea, but—"

"Oh, Rose, dear, it's alright," said Jackie as Rose broke off, lowering her head. "It isn't your fault. All you can do is try your hardest yet to make him better, won't you?"

"Yeah, I will." She swallowed. "Thanks, Mum. I love you."

"I love you, Rose. Come home soon, alright?"

"Bye." Rose hung up and closed her eyes. "Alright then, Doctor Tyler. Time to get to work."

She marched into the Doctor's room. He was about the same, breathing uneven, heartbeats mismatched, his eyes twitching behind closed lids, like he was dreaming. She laid the back of her hand on his face and jerked it away at once. She couldn't estimate a temperature that quickly, but she knew it was too high.

"Right," she muttered. "So, first thing, cool down his fever."

She began talking to him. "Can you hear me, Doctor? It's Rose. I'm here. I'm not going to leave. 'S alright." She barely even knew what she was saying, but whatever it was, it seemed to help. She couldn't hear his breathing quite so much anymore. "Come on, fight. Get better. There's only so much I can do. I guess you have to do the work again. Sorry about that. Can't be helped, I suppose. Ah, well. I'll do my best to help." That was where she ran out of nonsense. As soon as she stopped talking, he was less calm, so she hurriedly began talking again. "Remember the first time I met you? You were the Ninth Doctor back then. I was being attacked by those plastic things, remember, and you came and grabbed my hand and shouted "Run!" I suppose I wouldn't normally follow someone I didn't know, but I was a bit scared!" She giggled. For a moment, she almost thought she saw him smile.

"And remember when you regenerated?" she went on, taking his hand. "It took me a while to figure out it really was you. You were so—so different. You _are_ so different. But it's a—a good sort of different." She grinned. "My new-new Doctor."

She was _sure_ he smiled at that. She fished for something to say. "Have you figured it out by now? Who you are, this time around? Seems like you have. Is it always weird, for a little while? I'd think it would be—completely new. New Doctor. You're the same, but different. Last time—when we first met, I mean—you were a lot different. Not as funny, not as—as wound up, not as talkative. Now you're always joking around, trying to make me laugh—sometimes not trying, even—and you bounce off the walls, and sometimes no one can get you to put a sock in it."

She laughed, but her laughter died in her throat as she watched him, her new-new, funny, clever, energetic, not ginger Doctor, lying there, limp and weak and feverish. She shook her head. "Scratch that, it's a lot like Christmas, or at least it is now." She sighed. "'Least you won't have to wake up too soon and kill a robotic Christmas tree."

Rose sat there, right next to her broken Doctor, and waited.

**A/N: Aw! Poor Rose. :( You all know what to do! (And Soreye, you don't need to review. I can see where it might start to be silly reviewing and not saying anything at all! :P)**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: This is it. The last chapter. It's over. Couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you with all my heart and soul. I couldn't ask for better readers. You're all fantastic. I've been waiting for this moment since...well, since I came up with this ending. **

**So, here you are. It's all been leading up to this. For the first time, a story I wrote is coming to a close. The tale ends here.**

**I hope you love it as much as I do.**

Rose told the TARDIS to leave the lights low but not off, so she had no way to tell how long it had been. At one point she looked at her phone and saw it was seven fifteen, but she had no idea what that meant. She vaguely remembered it being four ten when she ended the call with Jackie, but it could have been three hours or fifteen or twenty-seven since then. She didn't know. She didn't care. It didn't really matter. What mattered was that she was there.

The Doctor wasn't much worse, but he certainly wasn't any better. She only left once or twice to get a cup of tea—real tea, not seven-kinds-mixed-together undrinkable tea. She carried the mug back and sat there again, a lonely and silent vigil. Her eyes never left him, because—because of what? Was she afraid he would die if she looked away? That was silly, but she still didn't tear her gaze away.

At five fifty-two, his right heart stopped.

Rose barely even blinked after that. She kept one hand in his and the other on his chest, feeling that rapid heartbeat, making sure at least that didn't stop. She was _not_ going to lose him. She couldn't. Not after all this. She'd done too much.

After a while, she pulled her hands back. Her arms ached, and when she glanced at her mobile, she saw that it was eight o'clock. In the morning, or at night? How long had she been there? She had no idea. More than a day, for sure. More than two? It might have been. She was tired enough for it to have been a week.

"I can't stand this," she said softly, letting her head fall to her chest. "I can't. It's too much." She grabbed both of the Doctor's hands. "Help me," she said, desperate, pleading. "Help me, please. I need it now. I need your help."

If he heard her, he didn't respond. She doubted he _had_ heard.

"I'm going to get a cup of tea," she said suddenly, standing up. "TARDIS, set off an alarm if he gets much worse." She half-ran to the kitchen and found that she was starved. Of course she was—she'd been essentially living off tea for the past week or so. She put the tea on and found a can of soup. It wasn't a kind of soup she'd heard of, but it smelled good when she put it on to cook next to the tea, and she would have eaten just about anything right then.

When both the tea and the soup were ready, she brought a bowl of soup and a cup of tea back to the Doctor's room. He was caught in a dream, kicking and mumbling to himself. Rose quickly put down her lunch and grabbed his hands. "'S alright," she said. "Can you hear me? I'm here. I'm right here."

Slowly, he seemed to break free of the fever-induced nightmare. Rose sat down and ate her soup. She was tired—not worn and drained, like she had been all week, but sleepy-tired. Several-nights-without-ever-resting tired. She sighed and coiled a strand of her hair around her finger as she sipped her tea.

She felt her head growing heavy. _No,_ she thought. _I've got to stay awake, got to...but I'm so...tired..._

A _drip_ made her half-closed eyes snap open. She was spilling her tea. She watched the droplets gather in the corner of the Doctor's mouth. He went still, and the rise and fall of his chest steadied, became even. The tip of his tongue flicked out and caught the hot tea. With a slight smile, she turned her head to look out at the stars.

"Grey Earl, milk, dash of cream, and a bit of sugar, just the way you like it." Rose blinked at the sound of his voice, perfectly clear. She turned to face him as he sat up straight with a rustle. "Hello, Rose! Did you miss me?" He beamed at her. "Look at me--all better now!"

She stared at him, shook her head slowly, and said, "What is it about spilled _tea?"_

He grinned and spread his hands. "Rest and tea can cure anything," he said. After a pause, he added, "Though, you helped a lot too."

She kept staring, and slowly her face split into a smile. She threw her arms around him. "You're alright!" She could feel the staggered beat of his two hearts changing as he quickly recovered, until they beat together again.

"Course I am," he agreed as he crushed her into a tight embrace. "I'm got to save the Universe, and everything. Can't just have me dying, now, can we? That'd spell the end for everything. I am the Doctor, after all."

"My Doctor," she breathed, and smiled.

Somehow, even with Rose wrapped around him, the Doctor managed to get up. "Now," he said, gently removing her so he could stand. "Where were we?"

"Next stop, London, I think," said Rose.

"Ah, yes," he said, and grinned. "Fantastic."


	17. Epilogue

The engines roared to life. Rose leaned against the wall, grinning as she watched the Doctor racing around the console, beaming as he flicked switches and pulled levers and pressed buttons. His kilowatt smile was an amazing sight to her tired eyes.

Suddenly, he started coughing. She looked at him in alarm and ran to stand next to him. For a moment, she was scared, and then she saw that he was laughing.

"Oi!" she shouted very loudly in his ear, and he turned to look at her, still pretending to cough. For his trouble, he got a slap across the face. His "coughing fit" was cut off by a yelp of pain as he stumbled into the console.

"You take after your mother," he said, rubbing his cheek. "That _hurt."_

"That isn't funny," she said sharply. "You scared me half to death."

He looked up at her and seemed to shrink a little bit. "Sorry," he said quietly. "That wasn't smart."

She was about to say he was forgiven when she had a better idea. "No, it wasn't," she said, and folded her arms.

"Forgive me?"

"No, I don't."

"I'm sorry, Rose, I'm _so_ sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Well, try thinking next time."

He walked around her and dropped onto his knees. "Please, I beg you, forgive me," he said dramatically. "I am your eternal servant if you will accept my humble apologies!"

She turned her nose up in the air. "You can't make me forgive you," she said. "I do not accept."

"I can't _make _you?" He jumped up. "Oh, I'm sure I can _make _you."

"Try," she said, biting back a smirk.

He stood in front of her, barely an inch taller than she was, and smirked at her. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Do your worst," she snapped.

He stepped forwards a half-step, so that he was standing on her toes, holding her in place. She looked at him, trying to keep her gaze cool, when she didn't want to at all. Before she realized he'd moved, he was kissing her. She melted, and she couldn't even pretend to be angry anymore.

After a slightly too-long moment, though only because Rose had begun to feel dizzy from lack of air, he released her. "Forgive me now?" he asked cheekily.

"Don't you need to breathe?" she gasped, leaning against the console to steady herself. "I don't mind, but I'd rather be sitting down if you're going to half-smother me, so I don't fall over."

"Sorry," he said, grinning sheepishly.

"'S alright," she said weakly, sitting down in the chair. "Just keep it in mind next time."

The TARDIS began trembling. "Here we are," said the Doctor cheerfully. "London, England."

Rose pulled herself up with the railing. "Right," she said, and stepped outside.

"Awful quiet," he said softly, looking out over her shoulder. "For London, anyways."

"It is." She looked up and down the street. No one was in sight. Biting her lip, she sprinted for the building.

He came in a second behind her and looked around. "Too quiet even in here," he said quietly. "Where is everyone?"

"I don't know. I don't like this." She ran up the stairs, and he followed her.

At the door to Jackie's flat, Rose raised her fist and banged on the door. "Mum!"

Jackie opened the door. "Rose," she said, surprised, relieved. "Come in, and quickly, both of you." She ushered them inside and shut the door before she hugged Rose tightly. "Oh, Rose, I'm so glad you're safe." She turned to the doctor and hugged him, too. "And you, of course, Doctor. Feeling better?"

"Much," he said shortly. "Jackie, what's going _on?"_

Suddenly, the television came on. A young woman stood on the screen. "All inhabitants of the city are to gather outside for the procession. I repeat, all inhabitants of the city are to gather outside for the procession. All new inhabitants are informed that new residents must register with the High Council between midday and midnight."

"High Council? Procession?" asked the Doctor, confused. "Register?"

"You'll see," said Jackie darkly, and led them out onto the balcony. "Both of you, keep your heads down and don't draw attention, _especially_ you, Doctor."

They stood there, waiting. The Doctor watched with an unreadable expression on his face. Then something came around the corner, and all at once they found the answers to all their questions.

The Doctor's hands clenched into fists. "No," he breathed, his eyes flashing. But it didn't change the fact of the procession coming down the street. Rose wanted to shout that it was impossible, but denial was not going to get rid of the swarms of golden Dalek pouring into the street by the thousand.


End file.
